Petr Fiala, Emmanuel Macron and Magdalena Andersson
The heads of state of the next EU Council Presidencies, the Czech Republic and Sweden meet Macron. France currently holds the Presidency of the Council.
(Photo: AP)
Vienna, Paris When Emmanuel Macron presented his ambitious plans for the French EU presidency in early January to the European Parliament, the continent was still on a different political calendar.
Then Russia attacked Ukraine – changing the priorities of the French head of state. Macron is now handing over the six-month Council presidency to the Czech Republic on Friday, for which Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine remains the crucial task.
In Paris, the government celebrates what it considers to be a successful presidency. The French are convinced that at this difficult time in history, France, the founding country of the EU, was exactly the right member state to lead the community. Macron’s European minister, Clément Beaune, spoke of a “strong balance”.
The Brussels think tank Fondation Robert Schuman also attests to Paris a “very positive presidency with concrete results”. France demonstrated the “efficiency of its diplomatic and political apparatus in Brussels”.
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Even as European unity faltered at times, the 27 member states agreed to six rounds of sanctions against Moscow and financial support to Kyiv worth billions. At the end of the French presidency, EU heads of state and government made Ukraine and Moldova candidate countries last week.
Progress on digital and climate policy
According to an analysis by the Fondation Robert Schuman, despite the new focus, the French government has managed to broadly implement its program in the green and digital transformation of the economy.
Petr Fiala in Volodymyr Zelenskiy
The Czech president traveled to Kyiv to see Zelensky in mid-March.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA wire)
Examples are the Digital Services Act and the Digital Market Act, which aim to contain the power of technology giants, mainly from the United States. This week, member states agreed to a compromise on climate legislation – including a ban on the sale of new cars with conventional combustion engines from 2035.
Overall, France lists 130 agreements concluded during its Council Presidency, many of which have yet to go through the EU Parliament. Macron had to contain the desire for a “new model of European growth”, which should also include the debate on the reform of debt rules in the euro zone. The French head of state even planned a separate EU summit on this topic in March in Versailles – which was then dominated by the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The war will also shape the Czech Presidency of the Council until the end of the year. Prague stated that the central objective was to maintain unity in the EU. In addition to dealing with the Ukrainian refugee crisis and rebuilding the war-torn country, Europe’s energy security, defense capability and “strategic economic resilience” are Czech priorities.
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The Eastern European country is one of Ukraine’s most resolutely allied member states: the pro-European government quickly delivered heavy weapons, and the Czech arms industry now produces almost exclusively for Kyiv. 380,000 Ukrainians entered the country, about half of whom stayed – a maximum figure in Europe in relation to the population.
Plenary Session of the European Parliament
During the Council Presidency, France was also able to broadly implement its goals for the green and digital transformation of the economy.
(Photo: DPA)
Prime Minister Petr Fiala traveled to Kyiv with his Polish and Slovenian counterparts in mid-March and campaigned for Ukraine’s EU candidate status, when Berlin and Paris were still very skeptical.
Prague acted less resolutely on sanctions in the energy sector: faced with heavy dependence on Russian sources, the government only approved a partial oil embargo after negotiating a moratorium until the end of 2023. due to repeated Hungarian blockades, they showed the EU the limits of its ability to act. Inflation and war weariness could influence public opinion in the coming months.
As a precaution, Prague also uses an elastic definition of unit in the EU. “Unity is a polyphony that still sounds harmonious,” Europe Minister Mikulas Bek recently told Czech radio.
With its political and geographical position, the Czech Republic strives for the role of “honest broker”. Prague diplomats are considered respected in Brussels, and the Visegrad group of states member has good relations with Warsaw and Budapest – although those with Hungary are troubled by differences in Russian policy. Prague could also mediate the still unresolved dispute between the EU Commission and Poland over judicial reform.
However, unity is also an internal political challenge for the five-party coalition in Prague, which recently quarreled over a corruption scandal. Political scientist Jan Bures believes the government’s motley alliance will now close ranks, “precisely because of the EU presidency”.
Unforgettable in the Czech Republic is the country’s first EU presidency in 2009: At that time, the government was overthrown in the middle of the Council Presidency by a vote of no confidence. Prague was convinced that this could not be done in times of “war presidency”.
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